Homeowners and home builders should consider the pros and cons of radiant heating when deciding whether or not this heating method is an efficient, economical choice. Available for new builds and as part of your home renovation project, radiant floor heating uses tubes laid below your flooring to heat specific rooms or the entire house.
Finishing the basement provides additional living space without the added cost of home additions. But choosing the proper flooring for your basement renovation is essential. Floating wood floors provide a durable, comfortable and attractive surface for any basement, and come in a wide range of colors, textures, and styles.
Finishing Stage In the last two posts we’ve looked at the selection, grading and planing of hardwood flooring. Now we’re at the final stage of manufacturing and taking a closer look at the finishing process, when protective coatings and sealants are applied to hardwood and engineered wood flooring.
In the last post we talked about log selection and covered the differences between plain sawn, quarter sawn and rift sawn logs in the manufacturing process for solid hardwood. Engineered wood floors are cut using the dry sawn method or processed with the rotary peel or sliced peel method.
Have you ever walked across gorgeous hardwood flooring or browsed through the floating wood floor aisles at your local building supply store wondering how hardwood flooring is made? Quality wood floors go through a rigid selection and preparation process that provides superior appearance and durability for years to come.
Wood species dictates Janka hardness ratings as well as the flooring’s general appearance, such as color and grain pattern. So how do flooring grades fit into the mix? And why do exotic wood floors have a different grading system than domestic wood floors?
Wood floors provide classic appeal and dependability for any area of your home, but the quality of wood flooring available today covers a broad range. Your flooring supplier carries many different products in various styles and finishes, but they’ll also offer you a choice between quarter sawn and plain sawn wood floors. What’s the difference? …
Read more “Uncovering the Myths of Quarter Sawn and Plain Sawn Wood Floors”
Like many other trades in the United States, the wood flooring industry has seen its share of ups and downs over the last decade. Wood flooring business surged from 2002 to 2006, but this thriving domestic market was also facing the pressures of increasing imports and price wars.
The Janka hardness test provides consumers with valuable information about the durability and strength of a particular type of wood species. This test is particularly important when considering which types of wood floors are best for your home. But what do Janka ratings actually mean and how does this measurement relate to the durability of …
Last week we discussed the advantages of using closed cell underlayment for your floating wood floors. This week we’ll switch gears and have a look at AcoustiCORK underlayment, a natural product that provides a similar level of insulation, sound deadening and resistance to mold and mildew.